Term limits for all killed in committee

(Baton Rouge) - A bill in the Louisiana House of Representatives proposing a constitutional amendment which would limit the terms for all elected officials has been killed in committee.

Bill author Rep. Simone Champagne, D-Jeanerette, voluntarily deferred on the basis that the provisions of the bill were too broad. There has been controversy over the bill's limiting the terms of all local officials across the state, as well as statewide elected officials.

Rep. Cameron Henry, R-New Orleans, said he has received numerous phone calls from local officials in his district concerned their terms would be restricted.

"I understand their concern," he said. "But for the statewide, I think the time is well past for that."

Champagne received permission to continue looking at the issue of term limits through more in-depth study conducted through the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs.

"It will allow me to come back next year with different instruments to address term limits," she said.

During the committee hearing, Champagne asserted that the public wants term limits, referencing a survey she conducted. She said of the 130 people whose surveys she had received, 109 indicated they were in favor of term limits for all elected public officials, and only 21 indicated they were not. Of those 21, five were elected officials, she noted.

"The public generally appreciates and endorses the concept of term limits," she said. "We are here for the people. As elected officials, we are not entitled to get elected to an office. No one guarantees us that unless we do a good job."

Champagne's original bill would have limited terms on all elected officials statewide, with the exceptions of presidential electors, delegates to political party conventions and members of the U.S. Congress. Currently, only the state legislators, the governor, Public Service Commission members and members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education have term limits as outlined by the Louisiana Constitution.

Henry applauded Champagne's efforts in proposing term limits and said he wished there was a way to continue with the present bill.

"I wish there was a way to study one-half and move forward with the other, but I know we can't do that," he said.

Even though the bill has been killed at present, all is not lost. According to Champagne, the bill has opened up discussion on term limits, a sore topic among many public officials.

"Throughout the state, all of the elected officials have called and been very forthright in their comments," Champagne said. "That's the good part of the bill. I think it has brought forward conversation on a subject that we may not have necessarily wanted to talk about across the state in the past. And I think it's time we discuss it all the way across the board."